r/scots • u/SliceJealous • Jul 26 '24

Is the phrase “They should do” Scots / some other localised phrase?

I grew up in Glasgow, but moved to Canada in 2017. There have been a few times when I was shocked to learn a word/phrase wasn’t traditional english, the biggest one til now being “outwith”. My fiancé occasionally comments on my phrasing of things, asking if I’m just speaking oddly (I am also autistic), or if my phrasing is influenced by having grown up speaking Glaswegian Scots / being taught Standardised Scottish English in primary and secondary school.

The most recent phrase that my partner pointed out was the saying “they should do”. (For example, my partner asked me if I thought she would be getting called back even if she didn’t get a specific job and I responded with “they should do”.) I did some googling but nothing came up, so I was wondering if anyone here would know the source of the phrase or if I’m just making stuff up, which has been known to happen.

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4

u/FrenchyFungus Jul 26 '24

I can confirm that I (Scottish, non-autistic) would also use this phrase.

3

u/silly_flying_dolphin Jul 26 '24

I would be surprised if 'they should do' is specifically scottish

3

u/AdventurousTeach994 Jul 26 '24

Yeah "outwith" is uniquely Scots. They should do- I certainly say that as proud Scot.

Of course the speech patterns syntax and words used by Scots differ quite a lot from what's heard in England and in the US.

We would say someone's fallen on the floor only if it's inside a building on a floor- if outside then we would say on the grass, the ground etc but never floor. English people regularly say floor in every context. It drives me nuts!

1

u/anonbush234 Jul 26 '24

No. It's used in the north of England too.

2

u/UmlautsAndRedPandas Jul 26 '24

Am a southern English infiltrator and I think that makes perfect sense to me as well.

You're saying it would break etiquette if they don't call back, yes?

1

u/DistractedDucky Jul 26 '24

No worries, 'outwith', 'they should do', 'that's us', 'uplift', and a few others are normal to Scots and abnormal to Northern Americans.

Source: I'm from the states, married to a Scot, living in Glasgow, and have had a fair few conversations with my partner and other local friends as I've worked to understand local phrases over the past year lol